# RE/FORM — A Lenovo V330 Redesigned as a Mini PC, from Board to Blueprint

> A laptop with a dead battery still had a board with 20 GB of RAM, two SSDs and its original cooling. Instead of throwing it away, I'm turning it into a Mini PC with a fiberglass case and a smoked acrylic lid. Before cutting anything, I designed the whole enclosure: a 3D explorer, 1:1 templates for the workshop and a model that says which dimensions are real and which are still assumptions.

- Human version: https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/project/reform-lenovo-v330-mini-pc
- Author: Augusto Salazar — https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/llms.txt
- Status: in progress — running on staging, not launched yet
- Tags: Side Project, React Three Fiber, TypeScript, Industrial Design, Three.js, React, Vite, Playwright, Vercel

## The question

I had a Lenovo V330-15IKB with no main battery, but its board was still useful: 20 GB of RAM, a 1 TB WD Black SN750, a 480 GB WD Green SATA drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and five ports along one edge (VGA, Ethernet, HDMI, USB-A and USB-C). As a laptop it was done. As a desktop, it wasn't.

The question wasn't whether it would fit in a box, but how to do it well: show the original hardware, open easily for maintenance, and run no hotter than it did inside the laptop. With a hard limit: **280 × 200 × 65 mm** at most, feet and screws included.

**Site:** [reform-v330.vercel.app](https://reform-v330.vercel.app/) (interface in Spanish)

**Caption:** The 3D explorer: the same case closed and exploded, with every part on its own layer and its dimensions.

## The rules I set

-   **Reuse, don't replace.** The blower, heatpipe, power jack and its harness, both antennas and the RTC battery all stay. Nothing gets cut or desoldered.
-   **Three levels of maintenance.** The lid comes off with four M3 screws to reach the RAM, the M.2 drive and the cooling. The SATA SSD comes out from below without touching the board.
-   **Buildable by hand.** Fiberglass in an open mold, with no undercuts and generous radii. Nothing that needs a CNC.
-   **Don't make up data.** Anything not measured is marked as inferred or proposed, and the design says so out loud.

## Start by looking

The first step wasn't 3D but an inspection report. Eight photos of the board, numbered P01 to P08, and for each one what it shows and what it means for the design. For example: the Ethernet port is a low-profile, open-mouth RJ45 that probably relied on the laptop chassis to hold the plug in place. Drawing a standard connector doesn't fix that, so it stays open, with a specific test to close it.

The board isn't a rectangle. Its outline was rebuilt, with the blower cutout and six candidate mounting points, and a stated uncertainty of ±8 mm.

## Where does the SSD go?

This is the decision that set everything else. I compared three architectures on footprint, heat, serviceability, fiberglass fabrication, cabling and looks. The winner puts the SSD under the board, on its own bottom-access tray.

![Three architectures compared: SSD on the side, under the board (chosen) or on a bridge, scored on footprint, heat, service and fabrication](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-arquitectura-en.png)

**Caption:** Three options for one problem. B wins, with a condition written down before anything is built.

![Exploded view with the SATA SSD on its bottom tray, separate from the board](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-ssd.jpg)

**Caption:** "One change, without taking everything apart." The SSD lives under the board and comes out from below.

## One source of truth

Every dimension lives in a single file, `case-dimensions.json`, in millimeters. It drives the 3D model, nine printable SVG templates, the dimension map and a script that builds the case in Blender. Change a value in one place and everything regenerates.

The result is a **258 × 184 × 62 mm** case (2.94 liters), with 3 mm walls and 8 mm radii, inside the limit with room for the tolerances of handmade work.

## Air, signal and light

In a see-through case, what you can see is the easy part. What you can't see is the hard part.

-   **Air.** The original blower pulls air in from below, through a dedicated slot right under the rotor, and pushes it out the back through the fins. The feet were moved so they don't block the intake. There's no extra fan: the original one gets measured first.
-   **Signal.** The two antennas sit on different walls, at 90° to each other, on insulating mounts and away from any metal or LED strip. Fiberglass and acrylic let the signal through; carbon fiber or metallic paint would not.
-   **Light.** Two 5 V LED segments under a diffusing band in the acrylic, powered from one of the PC's own USB ports, with a fuse and an AUTO/OFF switch. All under 100 mA.

![Airflow view: bottom intake under the blower and rear exhaust through the radiator](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-aire.jpg)

**Caption:** A path for the air: a dedicated bottom intake and a separate rear exhaust.

![Top view in fabrication mode with both antennas in their mounts and the inspector showing positions and mounting](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-antenas.jpg)

**Caption:** Antennas in their mounts, with positions in millimeters and the mounting method in the inspector.

![Acrylic glow inspector: segments, current draw, power and switching](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-led.jpg)

**Caption:** The LED gets its own sheet too: where it goes, what it draws and what still needs checking.

## Measured, inferred, proposed

Eight photos and two hand measurements are not enough to drill holes. So every value in the model carries a confidence label, and the explorer shows it.

![Three columns: measured, inferred from photos and proposed values, with the automated tests and their limits](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-confianza-en.png)

**Caption:** Every dimension says how much to trust it. The tests only certify what they can actually certify.

The tests are built to make the design fail when it should: an SSD that collides, a foot over the air intake or a case without Ethernet must all throw an error. A browser test also walks through the whole explorer, mobile view included. But no test replaces the workshop: temperature, signal and real dimensions get checked with the part in hand.

## From design to workshop

The site has three modes. **Explore** walks through the case in eight steps, from the lid to the antennas. **Fabrication** switches to orthographic cameras with dimensions, so you can measure without perspective distortion. **Documentation** holds the inspection report, the decisions, the bill of materials, the assembly guide and the open questions.

![Fabrication mode: orthographic top view of the case with dimensions](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-fabricacion.jpg)

**Caption:** Fabrication mode: orthographic views and dimensions shared with the templates.

![Panel of downloadable 1:1 SVG templates: power, antennas and LED, base drilling and cutouts](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-plantillas.jpg)

**Caption:** Nine 1:1 SVG templates, each with a 100 mm control ruler so they print without scaling.

There's also a photo calibration tool: mark a known reference and estimate another distance on the same image. It runs in the browser and the photo is never uploaded.

## Current status and what is left

RE/FORM is a documented design study, not a tested enclosure. Before building, it still needs:

-   the exact centers and thread of the board's mounting holes;
-   the height of whatever sticks out under the board, and proof that the SSD comes out from below with its flat cable;
-   a check that the Ethernet port holds the plug without the original chassis;
-   the original power button, and a way to press it;
-   temperature readings with the case open and closed, and a Wi-Fi and Bluetooth test with the lid on.

![Documentation panel showing the hardware inspection report](https://www.augustosalazar.com.ar/images/reform-documentacion.jpg)

**Caption:** "The design, in the open." Inspection report, decisions, materials, assembly and open questions in one panel.

## Outcomes so far

-   A complete 258 × 184 × 62 mm case designed around reused hardware, with nothing on the board cut or replaced.
-   A 3D explorer with an exploded view, layers, airflow, antennas, LED and a fabrication mode.
-   A single source of dimensions that generates the 3D model, nine 1:1 templates and a Blender script.
-   Tests that break the design on purpose, plus a browser test that walks the whole site.
-   A concrete list of what's left to measure, each item with a way to close it.

Next up is the workshop: measure, cut and lay up the fiberglass. This case will be updated with the real part.